Current weather

Athens man released after charges dropped

Murder case

Posted: Thursday, March 18, 2004

By Joe Johnsonjoe.johnson@onlineathens.com

After spending nearly two years in jail, and on the heels of his co-defendant's acquittal on murder charges last month, a 25-year-old Athens man has been released from prison after murder charges were dropped.

Jeijuana Harper's trial was to have begun in November, but prosecutors postponed it after co-defendant Antonio Bishop's murder case in the April 2002 shooting death of 21-year-old La Cedric ''Ced'' Shields was declared a mistrial. Bishop, 20, was acquitted after his second trial last month in Clark County Superior Court.

Bishop's first trial in November ended with a hung jury.

On Monday, a Clarke County Superior Court judge granted a motion to dismiss all charges against Harper.

''I have repeatedly asked that Jeijuana be released and the charges against him dismissed for lack of evidence, and the DA finally agreed,'' Harper's defense attorney, Page A. Pate, said Wednesday.

''Jeijuana should not have been held this long without a trial, especially when there is so little evidence against him,'' Page said. ''I am confident that we would have won at trial, but am pleased the DA finally dismissed the case. Jeijuana did not shoot Shields, and he did not assist anyone in shooting Shields. There was simply no credible evidence that Jeijuana had anything to do with this murder.''

When Harper had been indicted, the only evidence against him was a statement by one of the more than 200 people outside the Subway sandwich shop on Prince Avenue that night, according to Pate. The witness told authorities she had seen Harper approach Shields and shoot him in the head, Pate said, but that same witness had earlier said Bishop had been the shooter.

''At Antonio Bishop's first trial, there were several eyewitnesses who said Bishop shot Shields,'' Pate said. ''No one testified that they saw Harper do anything. Not a single witness testified that they saw JH shoot LS. No one even saw him with a gun.''